Send me your thoughts! I am all ears. I floated the idea just now and I think DH is here for it.
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I feel like this post is about to turn into a “help me plan 2 half-days at Universal” post lol. If so, we can move this over to the Universal board. I wasn’t sure where to start lol.
We are trying to make this as affordable as possible. Any input on off-site hotels vs. something like Endless Summer (currently $249/night)
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Get an AP rate. They usually come out about 3 months beforehand. One person in your party will need an AP, but it usually pays for itself.
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We really really like UOR but are a Disney family at heart. I have never combined the 2 in a single trip though as I like to have one or another of the vacations. I might be the only one that feels like that though. If you do UOR, def stay at a deluxe for Express Passes. The rooms hold 5 with a roll away and definitely worth it both in experience and value. An AP is not much more than tix and will get you a worthwhile discount.
I think the kids would like Legoland and this might be the end of your chance to do it before they grow out of it. My lego and rollercoaster-obsessed kid had his best day ever at Legoland when he was 11. The rides were fun (not super thrill coasters) but good fun. It was easy to navigate and re-ride and re-ride until they were actually tired of the ride. He enjoyed the lego theme and the merch too. His 17 yo brother enjoyed it as well but probably wouldn’t have if he didn’t have a younger brother having so much fun.
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Thanks for this input. My kids are SO lego obsessed (and coaster obsessed lol) I am definitely feeling torn.
What kind of merch? Does special merch come with the stay?
I’ll link this, which I just shared recently:
If you decide to, just edit the first post. You can change the title and also the category to Uni.
If you’re visiting on a Saturday, then yes to Express Pass. If it’s not a Saturday, you probably don’t need it.
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It will be Saturday! Thank you!
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I guess I’m the lone dissenter here, but I would spend the extra night at a Disney or Disney Springs hotel and add an extra park day. 1 for each park and 1 more to hit the highlights. With a convention ticket with the water park day you could do that on your arrival or departure day and DS the other.
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Our extended family had so much fun staying Beach Club and enjoying that pool. We’ve spent time at Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach and now that I think of it, River Country.
If your schedule accommodated a last day at Beach Club, relaxing at that pool, you’d have a great trip.
Or if you have, as we did then, folks who need some buffer time between the work world and Disney, starting your vacation off with the Beach Club would put everyone in the right frame of mind.
Less is often more.
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I think this is a perfectly fine option if that’s what they want to do. It seemed they were leaning other directions though which is why I think many of us supported that idea.
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That is probably what I would do if it were me as well. In fact, just yesterday I added an extra 1/2 park day and an additional night at another Dis hotel to the end of my upcoming vacation as it was much cheaper to fly home the next night. And Disney math.
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Gets you every time.
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It is my downfall.
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This point is VERY well taken. We have not been in almost 4 years so I am trending toward overdoing everything 
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after chatting with the kids – they are not really feeling the Universal add-on. Its my husband and I who are dying to see the Harry Potter things. So now he and I are scheming an adult-only Universal trip!
The extra Disney day is looking like a more viable plan for the fam, along the wise advice of @janamelia “less is more”
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Can yall talk to me about convention tickets? Why am I afraid to pull the trigger? I have read everything I can on the forum about it and seems like it’s never NOT worked. I think we all have so much pent up energy about this trip I worry that somehow convention tix will mess us up. I have also been trying to catch up on the January 9 changes and potential for Genie + changes for dated tickets or something like that? Would that have any impact on convention tickets? I apologize if my question is confusing, I am admittedly still trying to understand Genie+, rapid stacking, and if I should even be trying to understand it all for a May trip if it may all change before then.
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I used convention tickets last year and had no trouble with them at all. I linked them in MDE with no problems at all.
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Convention tickets are a great deal and I’ve never heard of anyone having issue with them. Just make sure you remember what conference you used the link for on the very off chance you have to call them for some reason (like if you want to add a day or something).
As for G+, I would read the threads to get an idea of how it works so that you at least have a base knowledge to work off of whenever they do whatever they do.
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I was going to vote for option 1 or 3. Having at least half a day to play at SAB at Beach Club would be a lot of fun. We did a premiere UOR hotel for 2 nights/2days before our last Disney trip and got the Express Passes included for our family of 5 - it is a really great deal with a full hotel room like that. BUT an adults only trip to UOR would also be really fun if you want to save it!
Like someone else said, with your kids’ ages, they may be too old to really enjoy Legoland. We went when my oldest was 10 and he mostly enjoyed it, but it is geared toward the younger kids - single digits for sure. My 8 and 5 (at the time) year olds enjoyed it more than he did.
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Thank you for this. It definitely seems like Lego is off the table.
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